New downtown crosswalks to replace those recently removed

Cape Girardeau's engineering department is working to update downtown crosswalks while improving the surface of a main route to downtown.

The brick and cement crosswalks at the intersections of Independence Street with Spanish and Main streets were recently removed by the public works department. Asphalt was used to temporarily fill the spaces in preparation for a larger project that will begin on Independence Street in August.

Robert Kutak, traffic operations manager for the city, said the removal of the crosswalks is part of the improvement of the street's surface from Water Street west to Sprigg Street.

Kutak said that during the project, the street will need to be ground down with milling machines and overlaid with asphalt. A method being used by larger cities will be used to stamp out and color crosswalks once a new street surface is in place.

Kutak said the crosswalks will still have a look similar to brick. The new method will allow for a finished, smooth surface with no seams, allowing the street to be one continuous sheet of pavement. He said leaving the brick and concrete crosswalks in place would have caused the milling machines setting the asphalt to start and stop, allowing moisture to get in between the joints of the pavement and edges of the crosswalks.

Kutak and Tim Gramling, the city's director of public works, have been working with the city engineering department to draw up plans for the project, which Kutak said would likely be bid out to a contractor in July. Kutak said that on completion of the street improvements, a subcontractor will be hired to make the crosswalk imprints.

Kutak said he has plans to discuss adding similar crosswalks to downtown streets with Old Town Cape and the central business district. He said most cities have caught on to the improved method.

"It's a thing of the future," he said.

eeaston@semissourian.com

388-3646